Atlanta bangs it out down low; blocking seven shots, outrebounding Milwaukee 29-19, and racking up 60 points in the paint. Joe Johnson drops in 22 points to carry Atlanta, while Mike Bibby chips in a double-double of his own. Final score: Hawks 102, Bucks 94.

The Nuggets keep the series alive with a 103-93 win over the Jazz. Carmelo Anthony leads the charge with a 27-point performance, and Denver uses stout defense to seal the deal. Kyle Korver becomes an unlikely leader for the Jazz, scoring 21 points in defeat.

As the final seconds ticked down, Dwight Howard was back in his familiar spot on the bench and coach Stan Van Gundy was steamed at his superstar for fouling out again.

Then the buzzer sounded and the Orlando Magic became the first team to advance in the NBA playoffs.

Who needs Howard? Not these deep Magic -- at least not in the first round.

Vince Carter scored 21 points, Jameer Nelson added 18 and the Magic showcased their depth and pressure shot-making in a 99-90 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday night to complete a sweep of their first-round series.

Powered by Carlos Delfino's hot shooting, Brandon Jennings' creativity and an unexpected windfall of chances at the free-throw line, the undermanned Milwaukee Bucks are beginning to make the Atlanta Hawks sweat.

The Bucks pulled off their second straight playoff surprise, beating the Hawks 111-104 in Game 4 on Monday night to pull even in the first round of the playoffs.

"I still feel like there's no pressure on us," Jennings said. "At the end of the day, everybody still expects us to lose the series. The best thing we can do right now is just keep fighting, keep competing with them and just see how everything goes. Hopefully we can go over there and steal one."

Delfino scored 22 points with six 3-pointers, Jennings scored 23 and John Salmons added 22 for the Bucks, who finally started getting free throws and made the most of them. Milwaukee was 28 of 32 from the line after attempting 17 free throws or fewer in each of the first three games of the series.

Reserves Channing Frye and Jared Dudley broke out of their series-long shooting slumps with 20 and 19 points, respectively, and the Phoenix Suns overcame an early 14-point deficit to rout the Portland Trail Blazers 107-88 on Monday night and take a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Phoenix can advance to the second round by beating the Blazers in Portland on Thursday night.

Frye, who spent the previous two seasons on the Portland bench, made 3-of-5 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds. Dudley was 5 of 9 on 3s. The Suns' two best 3-point shooters in the regular season, Frye and Dudley had been a combined 14 of 48 (29 percent) on 3s in the first four games of the series.